Des Moines County IA Archives History - Books .....Chapter VIII Geology Of Des Moines County, Iowa 1915 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ia/iafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 August 11, 2008, 10:17 pm Book Title: History Of Des Moines County Iowa CHAPTER VIII GEOLOGY OF DES MOINES COUNTY North America, known and called the New World, is in fact the oldest portion of land surface of the earth. Speaking of the formation of the continents of our globe, Professor Agassiz says: "America was the firstborn among the continents, though so much later in culture and civilization than some of a more recent birth. America, so far as her physical history is concerned, has been falsely denominated the New World. Hers was the first dry land lifted out of the waters; hers the first shore washed by the ocean that enveloped all the earth besides; and while Europe was represented only by islands arising here and there above the sea, America already stretched one unbroken line of land from Nova Scotia to the far West.'' To trace and mark definitely each period in the building up of a continent or any section of the same is the work of the geologist, and for this work in Iowa the state has intrusted it to the most competent men. Wc only know how the building-up process was carried on, by the strata of rocks which lie beneath the earth's surface, the substances of which they arc composed, and the organic remains in them found, and further, by the marks of erosion on their surfaces, the depth of the rivers, the vast amount of detritus by them deposited at certain places, the thickness of coal deposits, and from what they contain; the kind of deposits; all of which comprise, as it were, the leaves of a book to be opened, studied and read. It is by reason of animal and vegetable fossils found in rock layers and coal measures the geologist is enabled to tell the story of the destruction of the life of one period and the beginning of another, in the million of bygone ages. The first leaf of this book when opened discloses to him what is called the primary rock formation, which does not contain any vegetable or animal fossils; such is the granite, thus indicating that at the time of their formation no life existed on the face of the earth. The next leaf or layer he examines he finds contains fossils of the simplest forms of life. The next contains fossils more complex in their organization; and as he turns the succeeding leaves or layers he finds fossils more complex and perfect in organization than those in the last. The fossils thus found arc such that could only live in water. These fossils consist of the shells of marine life. In reading his book he finds vegetable fossils, the first the simplest forms of vegetable life, which to live must breathe the air. Continuing his reading, he comes to the leaf showing the coal measure, indicating a luxuriance of vegetable life. He concludes that at this time at this place there was not an entire submergence of the land. On the top of this he finds other rock formations containing fossils, showing that there existed at the time marine life. Then finally he comes almost to the close of the book, the last leaves of which show a stratum of sand, pebbles, soil, etc. In reading the book he explores mountain ranges; crosses seas and oceans; traces the windings of rivers from their sources, until they empty their waters through, sometimes, deltas into gulfs. Professor Calvin of the State University says: "These geologic records, untampered with, and unimpeachable, declare that for uncounted years Iowa, together with the great Valley of the Mississippi, lay beneath the level of the sea. So far as it was inhabited at all, marine forms of animals and plants were its only occupants." The story of the geologist tells how the great river which washes the eastern border of this county came about; that in the million years in the past mighty icebergs slowly but irresistibly crept along over the surface of a shallow sea, crushing and grinding, and gouging a pathway, which in the long coming time became the channel of the great river; tells the story of vast, thick sheets of ice slowly, but irresistibly, inch by inch, as it were, creeping over a shallow sea, crushing and grinding into marl what it met in its pathway, and leaving in its wake the great boulders which are found scattered on the prairies, some being left in this county. That animal as well as vegetable life existed in Des Moines County long before the glacial epoch is proven conclusively by what was found some years ago in excavating for the cellar of the building which stands on the southwest corner of Fourth and Washington streets, where were exhumed the molars and tusks of a mastodon, each tooth being six inches in length. They were found in a stratum of sand and gravel, superimposed by clay many feet in thickness. This stratum of sand underlies the ground north of Hawkeye Creek. When Jefferson Street was cut through, the hillside bordering on its north side then left an embankment some ten or more feet in height. This stratum of sand lies just below the surface of Jefferson Street as now improved. When excavating for the basement of the new Iowa State Savings Bank Building this stratum was struck, and is the same stratum in which the mastodon teeth and tusks were found. This stratum is superimposed on the top of the Kinderhook Group, as shown by the excavations for the bank building, where they had to go down to blue clay to get a solid foundation. The same was true in reference to acquiring a solid foundation for the postoffice building. That Mastodon aniericanus had his habitation here in pre-glacial times there cannot be any doubt. In Missouri and Nebraska have been found at many places the remains of the mastodon in the Pliocene period. The same is true in Indiana. All goes to show that the mastodon at this period of time roamed over a wide extent of country. The surface of the land in Des Moines County lies below what is called the carboniferous group. The following is a list of the solid beds of rock as they appear in the Mississippi Valley: 1. Chester limestone. 2. St. Louis limestone. 3. Keokuk limestone. 4. Upper and lower Burlington limestone. 5. Kinderhook beds. All these beds are found in Iowa except the first, and all in Des Moines County except the first and second. The Kinderhook bed derives its name from the Town of Kinderhook in Southern Illinois. The Kinderhook group at Burlington consists of seven beds. Commencing at the bottom, No. 1 is composed mostly of fine-grained shale, ranging in color from a blue to yellow. Its thickness is from 100 to 250 feet. Borings at Burlington on Lower Main Street by Mr. Bosch show the thickness of this bed to be 250 feet. The upper portion of this bed contains in some places many fossils. Bed No. 2 is a solid limestone about six inches in thickness, and lies immediately on the top of No. 1. This bed contains many shells. No. 3 is a band of limestone averaging three inches in thickness. It is what is called oolithic limestone. The peculiarity of this limestone is, its grains are like the roe of a fish. In many places it contains shale. Bed No. 4 has an average thickness at Burlington of twelve feet. It is a solid limestone and withstands the effects of freezing and thawing. No. 5 is a fine grained yellow sandstone and full of fossils. Its thickness will average seven feet. No. 6 is an oolithic limestone, and has a thickness of about three feet. Its color is a light gray. This limestone can best be seen at Kemp's Quarry, south of Burlington. No. 7 is an impure limestone, and may be considered good for nothing. The above completes the Kinderhook group. On the top of the Kinderhook group rests the Burlington limestone. If one wishes to see a portion of the Kinderhook and the Burlington limestones, go out to Flint Creek to what is called Starr's Cave and he will observe that a portion of this overhangs that below. The lower portion belongs to the Kinderhook group. If he will hut examine, he will find at the bottom of the Kinderhook on the ground next to the wall of stone a fine white substance, and testing it, will find it to be epsom salts. How epsom salts came to be there is this: The Kinderhook limestone contains carbonate of magnesia and sulphuret of iron, in iron pyrites, in fine particles. When exposed to the weather the pyrites are decomposed, and by uniting with the magnesia displace the carbonic acid, with which it was once combined, and forms epsom salts. All the surface of Des Moines County lies below the carboniferous formation, except in the western part of Augusta Township, where exist the lower strata of the carboniferous formation, in which can be found an inferior quality of coal at certain places. BURLINGTON LIMESTONE It is somewhat difficult to determine at all points where the Kinderhook group ends and the Burlington limestone beds commence. One gradually passes into the other, and both contain, to some extent, fossils of the same character. This is true only as to the lower bed of the Burlington limestone. The beds between the layers of the Burlington limestone are separated by a layer of silicon deposit. This deposit indicates there was a subsidence and destruction of life forming the lower deposit. In fact this must be true, because none of the kind of fossils in the lower bed are found in the upper. Both divisions of the Burlington limestone are crinoidal, but the species in the lower are entirely distinct from those in the upper, showing that there was an entire extinction of life in the lower before the formation of the upper. Burlington is known all over the world by geologists as possessing the most fruitful field where can be found so many species of those "flowers of the sea" sometimes called. Messrs. Wachmuth and Springer spent many years in investigating these, the most wonderful fossils, classifying the different species and grades. Up to 1870 Mr. Wachmuth has classified as follows: Crinordae 338 species, included in 40 genera Blastordae 17 species, included in 4 genera Echenidae 6 species, included in 4 genera Asterordae 4 species, included in 4 genera Ophimidae 4 species, included in 4 genera Total species 366 56 Since the above time Messrs. Wachmuth and Springer have discovered and classified many more species and genera of this form of life. The Burlington limestone is not comprised wholly of calcareous crinoids. This formation contains the remains of vertebrates, but only of fishes. Fish teeth and spines are found, such as belong to the shark. Some are found which belong to the Ganoid family, like that commonly called by fishermen "Billy Gars." Both layers of the Burlington limestone are frost proof, and furnish good material for building purposes and street curbing, but little of it can be used for making lime, because of its color being too dark. But to retrace to a certain extent what we have gone over: Any one interested can find exposed the lower Kinderhook formation, which is the shale used by the Burlington Brick Company in the manufacture of paving brick. The investigations of Wachmuth and Springer show that the transition and development of the various grades of elements was gradual, a development from a weaker into a larger and stronger. The species in the lower Burlington are small and fine in structure, those in the upper bed are large and stronger. In order to fully show geologic conditions as they exist in Des Moines County, and to be of practical benefit to the people of the county, we copy the following from volume 21, pages 625 to 639, in Iowa Geological Survey, being the report by W. H. Norton, geologist, whose work was in reference to "Underground Water." TOPOGRAPHY The topography of Des Moines County is controlled for the most part by a few simple factors. The county is wholly in the area of the Illinois drift, and by far its larger part is an upland molded to a nearly level surface by the Illinoisan ice. On the east the upland overlooks from a singularly straight and steep escarpment the broad bottom lands of the Mississippi. The interstream areas of the upland, chosen by the railways in preference to the valleys, present to the eye level or slightly undulating floors, with low swells and sags ten to twenty feet in relief. The tabular divides are incised along their edges by steep, narrow, young ravines which lead clown to the broader shallow valleys of the creeks. Their digitate lobes, still flat-surfaced, reach even to the escarpment overlooking the Mississippi, where the minor water courses break into cascades as they descend from hanging ravines. Ground water in an upland so young may very naturally stand high, except near the dissected edges. The Mississippi, which forms the eastern boundary of the county, here passes diagonally across a broad alluvial floor, five miles in width, traversed by numerous inosculating bayous and overflowed by the river's annual floods. To the south this strip of flood plain narrows until, at Burlington, where the great river saps the bluffs of the escarpment, it is entirely lacking. Skunk River, which bounds the county on the south, flows for most of its course through a narrow valley. Five miles above its mouth it develops a flood plain which opens broadly on that of the Mississippi, since here the river traverses a deep pre-glacial valley filled with easily eroded drift. GEOLOGY The country rock of Des Moines County belongs wholly to the Mississippian series of the carboniferous. At the base of this series lies a group of shales and shaly limestone, the Kinderhook, measuring, as sounded in the deep well at Crapo Park in Burlington, about three hundred feet in thickness. Only the upper portions of the Kinderhook are "exposed within the county. The bulk of the stage consists of soft blue "mud-rock" shale, .well known and easily recognized by all well drillers. Toward the top, however, are clayey sandstones and impure limestones-transition beds to the overlying Osage stage. The Osage stage comprises two formations, the Burlington limestone at the base, and the Keokuk limestone at the top. The lower part of the liurlington limestone is characterized by the singular whiteness of the cuttings obtained by the driller and by the fragments of crinoid stems and plates of which the limestone in places is largely composed. Because of its easy solubility, this limestone has been extensively tunnelled by subterranean waterways to which numerous sinkholes give access. It occurs in two beds separated by about twenty feet of cherty and calcareous shale, and forms the country rock over about one-fourth of the entire county, underlying a broad upland belt along the Mississippi. Upon this basal white limestone lies a well-defined bed of chert or flint about thirty feet thick, to which the Iowa State Survey has given the name Montrose chert. The chert, which composes the upper division of the Burlington limestone, is overlain by the Keokuk limestone, a blue compact limestone containing much chert in flinty nodules and irregular bands, passing upward into geode-bearing shales, which furnish cuttings of milk-white chalcedonic silica and crystals of quartz. The St. Louis limestone forms the summit of the Mississippian series over southeastern Iowa and forms the country rock in the southwest corner of Des Moines County. The beds include white marl, gray and brown limestone, and a hard, brittle, broken and recemented limestone of fine grain in angular fragments whose interstices may be filled with greenish clay. The Des Moines stage of the Pennsylvania series occupies only a few isolated areas in the southwestern part of the county. Its rocks consist of buff sandstones and may reach a thickness of 50 to 100 feet. The surface deposit over the uplands of Des Moines County is the loess-a soft silt of dust, buff above, in many places gray at base, and free from sand, pebbles and larger stones. Beneath the loess in many places lie as many as three distinct stony clays separated by different water-laid deposits. The uppermost is the Illinoisan drift, a yellow or, where unweathered, a bluish stony clay, generally bleached and leached superficially and supporting an ancient soil developed during the long interval which elapsed after its deposition and the accumulation upon it of the loess. Beneath the Illinoisan drift lies the Kansan, a hard stony clay, blue where not weathered. Lowest of all lies the Nebraskan drift, a still darker stony clay. Ancient soils and buried peat bogs and beds of sand and gravel in many places separate the Kansan drift from both the Illinoisan and the Nebraskan. UNDERGROUND WATER Sources On the broad flood plain of the Mississippi, sheet water is found in river sands and gravels at depths of sixteen to twenty feet. Driven wells, consisting of 1 1/4-inch pipe with a sand point, are almost universally employed. On the narrow flood plains of Skunk River and the other streams of the county the alluvium is of little importance except in villages. The Village of Augusta, situated on the Skunk River bottoms, draws its house supplies from wells from sixteen to twenty-four feet deep, sunk to rock through river deposits which find a sheet of ground water about two feet deep moving riverward in sand resting on the rock surface. Some of the silts at the base of the loess supply water, especially for shallow open wells on the tabular divides in places where ground water stands near the surface owing to the flatness of the land or to local sags. The beds lying between the Illinoisan drift and the Kansan include in places sands of some thickness. Unfortunately these beds also include old soils, muck, and buried wood, which in places injure seriously the quality of the water. Water is also obtained from the sands and gravels which separate the Kansan from the underlying Nebraskan drift and also from the sand and gravels that in some places rest on the country rock. Besides these fairly constant water beds of the drift, irregular and inconstant beds of sand and gravel may occur in any of the drift sheets, and, where of sufficient continuity and extent or sufficient connection with interglacial sands, may form local water beds adequate for small wells. On the whole the drift, where thickest and where least dissected by stream ways, forms an adequate reservoir for ground water and the supply of common wells. But where bedrock comes near the surface and the drift sheets are thin, and where they have been intricately cut by streams leaving the steep-sided and narrow divides locally called "breaks," the drift is often found nearly dry and water must be sought in the rock beneath. The drift is specially thick along the terminal moraine of the Illinoisan sheet which extends from north to south through Washington and Pleasant Grove townships. Here the ridge of the moraine rises sixty or seventy feet above the level of the adjacent uplands plains and the drift has not been found less than one hundred and twenty feet in thickness. On this ridge wells find water in drift sands and gravels. Other areas of specially thick drift occur where ancient rock-cut river valleys have been filled with glacial and interglacial deposits. Several deep wells in drift from Sperry to southeast of Latty point to a buried channel which apparently debouches into the Mississippi channel between Flint River and the north line of Burlington Township. A deep drift well a mile south of Kossuth marks perhaps a northeast tributary of this channel, although it may point to an independent valley leading to the Mississippi. Thus near Latty, along a north-south line a mile in length, are three deep wells, two of which are nearly one hundred and ninety feet deep and strike no rock, and the third-the most northern-27,7, feet deep, finds the blue shale of the Kinderhook at 231 feet. Drillers report "deep country" from south of Dodgeville, running northwest to between Pleasant Grove and Yarmouth. Other wells of exceptionally deep drift reported from Middletown, northwest of Danville, and east of New London, may mark another buried channel whose rock floor lies at about the level of the present bed of the Mississippi at Burlington. A few flowing wells from the drift are reported on low ground from Danville to south of Middletown. The basal member of the rocks exposed in the county, the shale of the Kindcrhook, is dry. Wells finding little or no water before reaching this shale have penetrated it to a depth near Augusta of 220 and 257 feet, and near the Mississippi north of Burlington to even as much as three hundred feet without success. Unless the owner is prepared to go through this heavy shale, and several hundred feet still deeper to tap the Galena waters, the drilling should be stopped on reaching the Kinderhook, and a well sunk in another place. The limestones overlying the Kinderhook are water bearing, the chief aquifiers lying in the lower part of the Burlington limestone. Ground water collects in this limestone in the crevices, joints and waterways formed by solution, its downward progress being stopped by the underlying floor of impervious shale. The upper cherty member of the Burlington (Montrose chert) is also water bearing. The St. Louis limestone probably carries water in the small area which it occupies in the southwestern townships, as may be inferred from the known water beds along its outcrop farther to the west. At and near Burlington, except for the drift gravels found on the rock and minor veins, the first dependable water bed is the Silurian. It is apparently this bed which supplies wells about five hundred feet in depth, affording to some of them a generous yield. The initial head seems to have been about five hundred and seventy feet above sea level, but no exact statements can be made since requests made of the city officials for information as to the elevation of the different well curbs have not been answered. A sharp fall of static level was observed in several wells on the completion of the Clinton-Copeland well. The water bed is evidently overdrawn, and flows from it can no longer be expected, except from the lowest levels. To protect the wells at Burlington which now draw from it no further drafts should be made, and all wells drilled in the city should not only seek a deeper supply but should also case off the Silurian water. In quality the Silurian water is hard and corrosive. As shown in the analyses, calcium approaches four hundred parts per million, sodium runs between seven hundred and eight hundred parts, and the sulphate irons somewhat exceed two thousand, three hundred and thirty-eight parts in one of the wells. The total solids were about four thousand parts per million in the wells analyzed. The reference to the Silurian of the water bed of the 500-foot wells at Burlington is made with a good deal of hesitation, although no other reference seems possible, since the Crapo Park well record places the base of the Maquoketa shale (Ordovician) below the bottom of these wells. On the other hand, the Crapo Park record is supported by but few sample drillings over the critical horizons. Some of the wells reach nearly to the supposed base of the Maquoketa. Local drillers speak of this water bed as the St. Peter sand rock, a term rather easily applied to the water-bearing Galena dolomite, a rock which crushes under the drill to a sparkling crystalline sand, but which it seems hardly probable would be applied to any Silurian rock that appears in the samples of any of the Burlington wells. The Galena forms one of the chief water beds at Fort Madison, and appears in full thickness at Mount Pleasant, where again the Silurian contains no water-bearing rock, if the record and the large amount of anhydrite present are reliable guides. It is hoped that the question whether the Silurian or the Galena supplies the water for the 500-foot wells at Burlington may soon be definitely settled by obtaining a complete set of samples of the drillings of a well reaching to the well-defined horizon of the St. Peter. New wells should not fail to go as deep as the St. Peter, which here lies about two hundred and sixty feet below sea level. The formation is exceptionally thick at Burlington and yields generously. The pressure is much higher than that of the Galena, the static level apparently reaching at present six hundred and thirty or six hundred and forty feet. Because of the marked difference in pressure of the St. Peter and the Silurian waters, the Silurian should be cased off to prevent lateral escape of the deeper waters through its waterways. The quality of the St. Peter water is much better than that of the higher flows, containing less than one-half the solids in solution, the greatest differences being in the sodium and the sulphate irons, according to Hendrixson's analyses. As but three wells at present draw water from the St. Peter, no overdraft has yet occurred. The water beds lying beneath the St. Peter are tapped by but one well, that of Crapo Park. The water from these beds has about the same static level as that of the St. Peter, but is distinctly superior in quality, the combined waters of all horizons in the park well containing only about half as much dissolved solids as that of the St. Peter and the Galena combined and one-fourth that from the Galena alone. As the static level at Crapo Park is more than one hundred feet higher than the lower grounds of the city, wells drilled in the manufacturing parts of the city situated near the level of the Mississippi will have higher pressure and proportionately large discharge. CITY AND VILLAGE SUPPLIES The city well at Crapo Park has a depth of 2,430 feet and diameter of 6 inches from the surface to 1,700 feet and 5 inches to bottom; cased to limestone at a depth of iS feet. The curb is 685 feet above sea level, and the head 3S feet below curb. The tested capacity is 250,000 gallons a day, the water coming principally from 050 feet below surface. The well was completed in 1898, at a cost of $5,095, by Tweedy Brothers, of Keokuk. Later a casing was inserted between depths of no and 210 feet, as a result of which water rose to 30 feet below curb. The following record is based on determinations made by the writer of samples of drillings saved by F. M. Fultz, superintendent of the Burlington Public Schools. It agrees for the most part with the record given by Mr. Fultz. RECORD OF STRATA IN CRAPO PARK WELL AT BURLINGTON [Transcriber's note: geologic data regarding rock formations including thickness and depth omitted from this transcription. No genealogical information in table] RECORD OF STRATA IN WELL OF IOWA SOAP COMPANY AT BURLINGTON [Transcriber's note: geologic data regarding rock formations including thickness and depth omitted from this transcription. No genealogical information in table] The well of George Boeck at 2-8 North Fifth Street, has a depth of 450 feet and a diameter of 5 inches; casing, 74 feet. The head is 30 feet above bottom of cellar. The well flowed "a full 5-inch stream," with no decrease in 1905. Water was found in white limestone 150 feet below soapstone (Kinderhook); temperature, 60 degrees Fahrenheit; effect on boilers, not good. The well of the Clinton-Copeland Company, at 100 South Fourth Street, has a depth of 465 feet and a diameter of 5 inches throughout; casing, to 72 feet. The head originally was 28 feet above curb, and no change has been noticed. Water is said to have begun to overflow when well reached depth of 440 feet. The temperature, taken after flowing through 175 feet of hose, was 59 degrees Fahrenheit. The well of the Moehn Brewing Company has a depth of 510 feet and a diameter of 5 inches. The original head was 30 feet above curb, but the well had ceased to flow in 1905, and the capacity under pump was small. Water was found in small quantity at 90 feet, but the main supply came from 500 to 510 feet. The well of the Murray Iron Works has a depth of 831 feet and a diameter of 6 to 4 inches; casing, 120 feet from surface into blue shale. The head is 92 feet above curb. The original flow of 300 gallons a minute had not diminished in 1905. The first water was in a gravel just above rock at 75 feet, and the first flow at 450 feet; a strong flow came in at 500 feet and the drilling were washed away from 600 to 760 feet and from 800 to 831 feet. The rock from 800 to 832 feet said to be like granular sugar. The temperature at tap after water has passed through 300 feet of pipe in foundry was 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The water is too hard for use in boiler. The well of the Sanitary Ice Company, near the intersection of Osborn Street and Central Avenue, has a depth of 852 feet and a diameter of 5 inches; casing, 95 feet from surface. The head was 51 feet above curb, and the flow 500 gallons a minute. Water at 80 feet was shut off; water at 430 feet rose nearly to the surface; the first flow was at 700 feet, and the water from the 800-foot level rose 51 feet above curb. Temperature, 64 1/2 degrees Fahrenheit. The water corrodes boilers and is used for condensing. The well of the Sanitary Milk Company has a depth of 487 feet and a diameter of d inches. The original head was 15 feet above level of corner of Third and Court streets, but the head in August, 1905, was 31 feet below same level; the head lowered on completion of Clinton-Copeland well. The well of Smith & Dalton has a depth of 460 feet and a diameter of 5 inches. The original head was 30 feet above curb. The original flow was estimated at 40 gallons a minute, but had decreased in 1905. Temperature reported as 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Mediapolis-Mediapolis (population, 85S) depends for its water supply on drilled and bored wells from 50 to 110 feet deep, all but 30 or 40 feet of which are in rock. The water heads 20 to 30 feet below the curb. The well of D. Hutchcroft, two miles east of Mediapolis, has a depth of 600 feet and a diameter of 5 5/8 inches to 360 feet and 5 inches to bottom; casing to 360 feet. Water found at depth of 40 feet, in drift, was not cased out. Pumping capacity, 8 gallons per minute. RECORD OF STRATA IN HUTCHCROFT WELL NEAR MEDIAPOLIS [Transcriber's note: geologic data regarding rock formations including thickness and depth omitted from this transcription. No genealogical information in table] The shale whose base is found at 348 feet is evidently the Kinderhook; below it, the drill, as al Burlington, passed through about 150 feet of limestones, which may represent the Devonian and Silurian. The shale from 500 to 600 feet may be taken as the equivalent of the shale (Maquoketa) at Burlington which immediately .succeeds the limestones below the Kinderhook. The drift, therefore, seems lo have passed through the water bed which supplies the less deep wells at Burlington and yet to have found very little water. Mediapolis is 764 feet above sea level. If an adequate supply is not found in the Mississippian limestones, a well which adventures through the heavy dry shale of the Kinderhook, here at least 200 feet thick, will probably find water in the Devonian or Silurian. Should the supply still prove insufficient, the drill should proceed through the next considerable shale, the Maquoketa, and tap what water may be found in the Galena dolomite and Platteville limestone. The water bed of the Saint Peter sandstone will be encountered at about 1,150 feet from the surface. Minor Supplies-Minor village supplies are described in the following table: VILLAGE SUPPLIES IN DES MOINES COUNTY [Transcriber's note: geologic data regarding water wells omitted from this transcription. No genealogical information in table] ARTESIAN WATERS The people of Des Moines County want to know from whence their underground water supply has its source, by which is fed so many deep wells in the county. Artesian wells are those whose flowing water rises to a considerable height within a tube under hydrostatic pressure. To constitute an artesian well it is not necessary, as some suppose, that the water should overflow at the surface of the ground. They are divided into two groups, those which overflow at the mouth are called flowing wells, the others non-flowing. The height at which the water stands is called its head. In Iowa there are certain beds of stone impervious to water. These beds dip southward from high lands in the North. These beds constitute a floor over which is supplied the waters of artesian wells. The higher the source, the higher will the water rise in the tube of any well under certain hydrostatic pressure. It is similar to stand pipe system of water works. The stand pipe furnishing the source of supply. The head on level at which the water will stand in any well depends upon the elevation of the source of water supply, together with the amount of rainfall which supplies the source. All the waters in and on the earth's surface come from the clouds, and where the area is large, where the water beds outcrop or come near the earth's surface the water supply will be great and the head level of any well is determined by distance from the source from which it receives its waters. The supply of the water beds of Iowa for its artesian wells comes principally from the Cambrian and Ordovician sandstone found mostly in Southern Minnesota and Wisconsin. Here it covers about fourteen thousand five hundred square miles at surface. This area differs greatly in its elevation above sea level. In some places more than twelve hundred feet above sea level. If we take the City of Burlington, which at low water mark of the Mississippi is 550 feet above sea level, and the head source of supply, say one thousand feet above sea level, it will be seen nearly what the head line of an artesian well will be in Burlington. The head of the well at Crapo Park is 136 feet above the line of the water in the Mississippi at low water. Above sea line, 657 feet. The true head line of any well cannot be determined unless all leaks have been closed to prevent escape. PERMANENCE OF YIELD This presents a question of great importance. There are many things which may interfere with the usefulness of a well, in drilling such wells, the well drill passes through many strata of rocks, some hard, some not so dense, and liable to crumble and fall in the orifice and the well becomes clogged. Besides, the supply may be cut off by the sinking of other wells in the same neighborhod. Permanency of water supply depends on, first, the construction and the care with which the well is taken; second, on the character of the water bed from which it is supplied and third, on the draft of other beds in the same vicinity. As to the drilling of artesian wells in Des Moines County when the Kinderhook group has been reached, if no water in sufficient quantities has been found, it is best to stop and drill at some other place (This is to the farmer). If the well goes down through the Kinderhook, and water is found, it probably will be so mineralized as to be unfit for household use, such as the waters of the Iowa Soap Company. SPRINGS A word about the springs in Burlington. The water coming from springs in Burlington should not be used till at least all outhouses and stables shall have been banished from the city. These springs come from the base of the Burlington limestone. This limestone is full of fissures, crevices and pockets which permits surface water to percolate till it reaches the impervious bed of the Kinderhook group, when it comes out in a spring. The mouth of the spring on lower Alain Street is just above the top of the Kinderhook shale, and is nothing but an underground sewer for all that part of South Hill. We recollect some twenty years ago in the western part of the city occurred an epidemic of sickness among people who used the water coming from certain springs. Many people were dying, some said it was cholera, others gave it the name of the "West Hill" disease. Doctor Henry at the head of a committee of physicians examined into the water supply of those taken sick, and it was found they used spring water. The City Council caused the springs to be closed, when the West Hill disease ceased to exist. Additional Comments: HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY IOWA AND ITS PEOPLE By AUGUSTINE M. ANTROBUS ILLUSTRATED VOLUME I CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1915 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ia/desmoines/history/1915/historyo/chapterv55gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/iafiles/ File size: 36.9 Kb